In discussion of the problems of leading in an era of super transparency, learners in this course have identified several interesting components of an effective strategy for leaders to use in dealing with the challenges of social media "shitstorms" that might be harmful to your organization. These are four recommendations they came up with:
"You've got to be there." That is, you have to be present in social media in order to see what is happening and to know how to respond.
"You've got to be 'on message' with your responses." That is, you have to respond in ways that seem reasonable to others, and that are correct. There is a big penalty for responding with incorrect information.
"You've got to respond quickly." Most companies, we agreed, don't have a capacity to respond quickly enough.
"Your responses have to come from the right sources, which are credible and correct." In this age of complexity, you often can't just let the PR department handle it, as technical or legal expertise might need to be brought to bear, to avoid saying anything wrong (see bullet 2 above). "The most dangerous forms of messages are those that contain some truth, but a lot of misleading or wrong information packaged with that grain of truth."
These recommendations are open to additions and elaboration, as learners continue to contribute to discussions on the forum. Perhaps yours will be adde